The Coffee Shop AU
by KingdomFlameVIII
Summary: Every now and then, the pieces of the universe align, and everything else just falls into place. AkuRoku
1. Chapter 1

**For two reasons. First, because what kind of fanfiction author goes three whole years without writing a single coffee shop AU? And secondly, because Christmas crept up on me and I forgot to throw something together and I happened to have this lying around. So yeah. This will probably consist of two or three parts. The majority's already been written, but you guys know how great I am at posting stuff when I'm supposed to. So yeah.**

**Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals. **

* * *

><p>When Roxas, soaking wet, late for work, and extremely irritable, first stormed into <em>Nature's Java <em>on 115th and Broadway, he didn't realize that he would be coming again every week day for the next several years. He never even knew that he was going to come back at all.

As far as Roxas knew, the celestially designed _Nature's Java, _so different than the contemporary-chic style he was used to, was nothing but a crappy Starbucks substitute, brought to him by an inconveniently placed traffic detour. If he were ambitious enough, Roxas probably could have navigated his way around the detour and still gotten his Starbucks. But as was mentioned earlier, he _was _late for work, and _Nature's Java _had front door parking in downtown traffic. Which could be viewed as good or bad, depending on how you looked at it.

But Roxas was just not in the mood to fight destiny anymore. It was one of those mornings that were just _wrong. _As though a piece of the universe had fallen slightly out of place and become misaligned with everything else. Due to a monstrous storm the night prior (which was probably also responsible for the traffic detour), Roxas' alarm clock reset, and so he'd slept a half an hour later than he'd meant to. The toast burnt while he was dressing himself. The battery on his key fob died, and so he spent five minutes wrestling with a long-jammed door lock in the pouring rain. The list went on and on, and Roxas was certain that _Nature's Java _wasn't going to have his skinny white chocolate mocha latte.

Roxas, who was already wary of any coffee shop not called Starbucks, was not comforted by the hanging moon figurines. Or the nebula patterns sprayed on the walls. Or the sun carpet that smiled up at him. Or the numerous exotic plants potted near the window. Or the fact that the doorway that led to the back storage was closed off not by an actual door, but by a colorful, hanging rug.

The whole place looked like a weird cross between a hippie store and his grandma's attic. And it smelled like incense. On another day, a sunny day, maybe, he might have been able to appreciate it. But today, it was as off-putting as everything else that had happened to him.

"Hello! Welcome to _Nature's—_oh. Are you okay?"

Behind the counter stood a tall, good looking barista, with long, bright red hair tied back into a ponytail, which stuck out from underneath a black NEF hat that Roxas was sure would be against the dress code where _he _worked, and a lanyard with about 30 buttons on it. He also had two teardrop tattoos on his face, one on either cheekbone. His carefree appearance bothered Roxas greatly. Nobody, he thought, should look so comfortable with themselves on a day like today. It just wasn't fair.

But Roxas wasn't an asshole, and taking his frustration out on this guy wouldn't have gotten him a skinny white chocolate mocha latte, anyway.

So just sighed and pushed his sopping, dripping bangs out of his face. "No, not really," he replied dully, approaching the counter, "It's just one of those days where _nothing _goes right, you know?"

The barista nodded sympathetically. "You're the third Starbucks convertee I've seen this morning. I'm supposed to deliver you this whole schpeel about how we only use organic ingredients and how everything can be made vegan and blah blah, but you really don't look in the mood so just tell me what you usually get and I'll try my best to remake it."

Roxas cracked a little smile at that. He'd come in prepared to check out the menu a bit first, but this way was quicker, he supposed.

"White chocolate mocha?" he supplied weakly.

The barista chewed his lip in a quick moment of contemplation. His face lit up almost immediately. "I got just the thing! Uh—you allergic to anything?"

"No," Roxas replied. It hardly mattered, the guy was already whirling around like a madman behind the counter. He moved himself and pushed down all kinds of milks and flavors and foams seemingly at random, the way someone only could after they've been doing something so long that knowledge becomes muscle memory.

Not 30 seconds later, the barista was scribbling something on the cup, which was already capped, leaving a small little sip hole for dancing vapors to swirl up from. Roxas reached into his pocket for his wallet and found some lint and a gum wrapper.

Eyes widening, Roxas began a frantic patdown, turning out all of his pockets even though he already knew he wouldn't find anything there.

"_Fuck!" _he hissed. All of his pockets combined produced him 83 cents. "I left my wallet!"

He wanted to kick something. Why couldn't just one thing go right!? He wouldn't be able to go back home for it _now_, he was already well on his way to being ten minutes late to work if the traffic was cruel, and he knew it would be. Which meant he was going to have to go eight hours without food _or _coffee—"

But the barista was already printing a receipt. He handed it to Roxas, along with the drink and a croissant.

"On me," he said kindly.

Roxas was floored, temporarily snapped into a daze and out of his panic induced craze. "I—are you sure?" he asked, feeling very thrown off and humbled by the strange act of kindness, "I mean you didn't have—I mean… thank you. Thank you."

"Consider it an investment," the barista joked lightly. "Detours are wonderful for business."

"Well… thanks," Roxas said. He took a moment to observe the nametag hanging from the lanyard, "…Axel."

"You're welcome," Axel replied, grinning.

Roxas glanced down at the cup, only just then realizing the name that Axel had chosen for him to go on the cup was _Cutie xx. _He jumped a little, nearly spilling it. "Well, t-thanks," he stuttered, "I already said that, I'm an idiot, I mean, see you-um, have a good one."

Before he could embarrass himself any further, he turned away to leave. Behind him, Axel called, "Hope your day gets better!"

"Yeah, you too," Roxas said. "I don't know why I said that, just have a good day."

Roxas felt his ears getting very hot as Axel's laughter followed him out the door and back into the rain. In fact it was several minutes before Roxas even remembered that he actually did have some sort of nice-smelling coffee in his cup holder. At the next red light, he tried a little sip.

He couldn't believe it. It tasted just like a white chocolate candy bar. There was another flavor in there too, subtle, but distinct to someone who had been drinking a similar drink for years. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. Was it strawberry? Pomegranate? Whatever it was, it complimented the flavor magnificently.

Roxas checked the receipt. Axel had given him a large and it was still cheaper than Starbucks.

~o~

The traffic detour was still there the next day. Roxas was not nearly so grumpy about it this time. In fact, he may or may not have put a tad bit of extra product in his hair, just in case.

When he walked into the shop, the sun streamed in though its many windows, some of them stained glass, others reflecting the light spectrum like rainbows. The incense-mixed-with-coffee smell was somehow not so off putting this time. Roxas noticed a shelf full of delicate teapots for sale. He didn't take a moment to go and inspect them, however. Axel was waiting for him, draped over the counter in a smug, relaxed sort of fashion.

"Well hello there," he said, a satisfied grin on his face. "Welcome to Nature's Java. How are you this morning?"

"I—I remembered my wallet today," Roxas blurted lamely. He knew Axel was more likely referring to his mood, but all his words seemed to fall away before they could reach his lips. He gave a nervous chuckle, perhaps under the idea that it would help to convey what his words couldn't.

Axel was wearing a maroon hat today instead of black. It clashed with his hair something terrible. It was such a violent shade of red, Roxas was almost certain it had come out of a bottle. Yet somehow, he couldn't imagine it being any other color.

The barista laughed a little too. "What can I get for you today?"

"Um… whatever it was you made for me yesterday?" Roxas asked, uncertain. "It was really good… what was it?"

"White chocolate raspberry truffle," Axel replied, with a small, don't-look-too-pleased-with-yourself smirk. "Extra pump of raspberry. M'kay, what size?"

Roxas was so used to ordering from Starbucks, he replied, "Vente," without thinking about it.

"This is a normal coffee shop," said Axel, his grin showing through his teeth now.

Normal was the last thing Roxas would have called it. The only time Roxas had ever seen anything like it was that time his mom forced him to go shopping at an artisan village with her. Normal coffee shops didn't offer vegan substitutes and use beads instead of doors and decorate the walls and floors with suns and stars. Normal coffee shops didn't sell candles, teapots and incense, and they _certainly _didn't employ stupidly attractive baristas that wore face tattoos and beanies.

But Roxas didn't think to point that out. Instead he began getting flustered again. Why could he just act like a normal human being? He never had this problem in the many years he'd been going to Starbucks. Why weren't there other baristas, anyway? It was like six thirty in the morning, there should have been at least three.

"I mean large," he said. After a pause, he added, "S-sorry. Force of habit."

But Axel was already tossing together the ingredients with just as much practiced ease as he had the day before. "Did you know that there's a type of lobster with regenerative cells and a constantly reforming exoskeleton?" he chatted loudly over the whirring roar of the foam maker. "Assuming they're never killed by an external force, potentially they could be immortal."

Slightly taken aback but also intrigued, Roxas replied, "I did not know that. They should use them for scientific research. It could be medically groundbreaking."

"That's… a really nice thought," said Axel, writing another name onto the cup, once again without bothering to ask Roxas for his. "You're a nice person, aren't you? I can tell."

_And you are a total mystery, _Roxas thought, handing over his card. He was careful to avoid reading today's name until he was out of the building. There were too many stands, rugs, and knick knacks for him to trip over; he didn't need a repeat of yesterday. "Thanks. Have a good one."

"Yep, you too," said Axel. He winked.

Determined to leave without stuttering or making a fool of himself, Roxas exited the shop, reading _Sexy Hair _wrapped around his cup in slanted writing.

The next day, there was no traffic detour to take Roxas past 115th and Market.

He found himself going that way anyway.

~o~

"Did you know that there was a tree planted in dedication to Ringo Star that got devoured by beetles?" Axel asked cheerfully as he wrote some embarrassing name on Roxas' peppermint tea. He was wearing a knitted scarf today, and rightfully so. December had come, and winter was crawling up fast.

Roxas was about to compliment it when he realized that out of three months' worth of random facts, this was the only one he'd known before Axel told him.

"Yes! I _did _know that!" Roxas shouted triumphantly. "They had to take the whole thing down and replant another one. I read it on CNN last year."

Roxas had learned more useless information from Axel than he'd ever cared to. He learned everything from, "I bet you didn't know that bubble wrap was first invented to be a wallpaper" to "isn't it cool that whale calls are almost as complex as human speech?" to "Y'know, during the scene in Return of the King when Frodo leaves Middle Earth, Sam inexplicably loses his vest. Sean Aston forgot it when he took a bathroom break."

Yet every morning he found himself looking forward to the fact of the day. It never ceased to amuse him that Axel hadn't run out yet. He wondered occasionally if Axel had to look one up every night, or if he was just so full of weird facts that he didn't have to.

Without missing a beat, Axel took his card and swiped it. "Really? Well then did you know that as of today, you've been coming here for exactly three months and I still don't know your name?"

"Well, if you've been trying to guess you're doing a piss poor job… Snickerdoodle," he said, taking note of the ridiculous name Axel had given him today. "It's Roxas…"

~o~

From that day on, every random fact of the day began with 'hey Roxas.'

"Hey Roxas, did you know that July and August were named after Julius and Augustus Caesar, respectively?" "Hey Roxas, did you know that the first vending machine ever produced holy water?" "Hey Roxas, bet you didn't know that Elsa from Frozen is a lefty."

The names on the cups, however, remained quite as imaginative and complimentary as ever. Roxas had to give him credit for creativity; they were almost always different and never repeated less than two weeks apart. The only time Axel incorporated his name at all was for '_Foxy Roxy."_

The shop, which had still not yet taken down its Christmas decorations, was filled with the warm smells of marshmallow, gingerbread, peppermint, eggnog, and all those other seasonal flavors. But even all the festivity could not quite mask the incense smell. Roxas barely even noticed it anymore. The scent filled his nose when he walked in and that was it. It was like coming home. Aside from a few warm lights behind the counter, all of the lights in the store had red and green filters on them, which left the shop quite dark in the early winter morning. It was so cozy, that Roxas began timing it so that he arrived fifteen to twenty minutes early, just so that he could bask in the sweet warmth, enjoy his morning cup, and have small conversations with Axel.

Then, on the Friday of New Years' Eve, Axel's fact was very unlike the rest of them.

"Hey Roxas, did you know that I would really like to take you out tonight?"

Roxas' vanilla chai sprayed all over his hands, the counter, and his cup. '_Adorable porcupine' _ran down the sides of the cup in blackish-purple rivulets as Roxas took in what he heard.

"No? I mean not _no!_" Roxas added quickly, "I meant no I didn't know, no like no I don't—I mean—really?"

Axel nodded. "Me and my buddy always go to this one place, they do a 12 cent wing special and these really great countdown shooters. Cept he recently got in a relationship, so now it's gonna be awkward and I'll be third wheeling and that's not cool I mean it's not like he does it on purpose but when they're together," he made a 'pshoo' sound as he launched one hand off the other in a mock of a rocket shooting into space. "It's like they're in another world. So I figured, I should probably bring someone so that they don't feel bad about ditching me like I know they will, cause I get it. And the thing is, I really want it to be you."

He chewed his lip. It was the first time Roxas had ever seen him look so nervous. Roxas felt an evil sort of satisfaction in knowing that he made Axel feel as nervous and Axel made him.

"Sure, I mean yeah, I'd like to," Roxas said. He knew it would cost him; he'd made plans with his brother to watch the xmen trilogy, drink and eat hors d'oeurves till the ball dropped. But opportunities don't come along like this every day. Or even every year. "Where should I meet you?"

Axel lit up like the Christmas Tree still sitting in Roxas' living room because he and Sora hadn't taken it down yet. "Here? Eight o'clock?"


	2. Chapter 2

**And a Happy New Year.**

* * *

><p>Roxas only fussed a little bit over what he was going to wear. He only changed like twice. He thought a lot more about the things he was going to say. He didn't try to think of topics for conversation, necessarily, just answers to things he thought Axel might ask him, things that are usually asked when trying to get to know someone. He partially hoped he wouldn't even have the opportunity to say them. Conversing with a maybe-more-than-friend should just <em>happen, <em>Roxas thought. It shouldn't feel rehearsed.

"Hey… Rox. You're kicking the leg of my chair."

Jolting from his thoughts, Roxas blinked. "Huh, what?"

Sora rolled his eyes. It was a very familiar, big brother gesture. Roxas observed it at least twice a day. "You, foot. It's kicking my chair."

"Oh," Roxas said blankly, shifting slightly so that he kicked air rather than any chairs. Or the table. Or Sora's foot.

"Stop fidgeting! It's gonna go fine, you'll see. You'll do star-spangled shooters and eat hot wings and embarrass yourself trying to choke down the spicy ones and you'll probably kick yourself over it for weeks even though he'll probably just think it's cute—"

"Jesus, shut up," Roxas groaned. He tried to sound annoyed, but secretly he made a mental note to only go for the mild wings. At least until he was comfortable enough around Axel to pant like a moron. He shuddered to think of what those star-spangled shooters would do to him. Though Roxas liked to think he was tactful enough at the best of times, he was an immensely amiable drinker.

Sora smirked, his eyebrow quirking smugly. "Yeah, okay. You just go have fun, and I'll stay here, all aloooone and lonely. I'll watch xmen _by myself, _and eat all these jalapeño poppers _by myself._"

"Damn it Sora, I said I was sorry," Roxas growled. "You would have done the same thing."

In truth, initially Sora hadn't really given him too hard a time about it. At first he was a little surly, but as soon as Roxas mentioned that he had a date, Sora had immediately switched into older brother mode, and had been teasing Roxas ever since.

"Yeah, I would," Sora replied. "I'm just fucking with you. Go, baby brother. Be free. Party, do drugs, get laid."

"I hate you," Roxas mumbled.

~o~

It was agreed that Roxas would leave his car parked on the street outside _Nature's Java. _Due to its slightly out-the-way location, there was no parking meter, which made it a perfect spot for Roxas to leave his car and eliminate the need for a second designated driver. Although he wasn't quite sure where he would end up or how he would get home, Roxas didn't fret. He'd have the rest of the weekend to figure that out.

He arrived a few minutes after Axel, who was waiting for him in the backseat of a silver SUV that Roxas didn't recognize. On nine bucks an hour and tips, however, Roxas was nearly certain that it didn't belong to Axel.

As he approached the vehicle, Roxas suddenly realized he knew very little about what he was getting into. _Did _Axel own a car? Or did he take a bus, or the tube to work? Was he a college graduate? Religious? In a shop like _Nature's Java, _it was difficult to tell. Stuff like that didn't really _matter, _Roxas supposed. But it unnerved him a little to think that all he really knew about Axel was that he was full to the brim with random facts, he had a guilty pleasure for _Dancing with the Stars, _and that, to some extent, he was interested in Roxas.

"Hey," Roxas greeted, his breath puffing out in a thin white steam. He climbed into the back seat next to Axel, scooting maybe a little closer than was normal.

The two figures in the front seats turned so that they could get a proper look at Roxas. Roxas wondered what Axel had told them about him.

"Hi Rox! This is Demyx and Zexion," Axel said cheerfully, gesturing to each of them, respectively.

Zexion nodded at Roxas, "It's nice to meet you."

The two of them looked every bit as odd to Roxas as Axel had the day they'd first met. Zexion wore his steely dark hair in a layered fringe, which covered one eye. It was that sort of punkish style that had gone out of fashion years ago, but in a weird way it was becoming to him. Roxas didn't know how he felt about Zexion driving around with his vision obscured, though.

Demyx was another matter entirely. He had light, ash brown hair with highlights, which was styled into a weird mullet-faux hawk hybrid. He sported Mardi Gras colors, all sequins and glitter. Looking between the pair of them, Roxas wondered passively whether the two of them styled themselves that way all the time, or if it was just for the occasion.

Even Axel looked different. He had taken his hair down from its ponytail; well, it might be more accurate to say he _released _it. It spanned out in all directions, giving Roxas the distinct impression of a large red porcupine. Axel's barista smock was gone, and instead he wore thick purple eyeliner with a hint of glitter. It _was _New Year's, but on any other day Roxas probably wouldn't have taken him out like that.

Seeing the three of them together made Roxas feel a little underdressed. He wore a purple v-neck, a leather jacket, and jeans. It was form fitting and easy to layer, but it wasn't really celebratory. He wasn't a habitual user of makeup, either. Sometimes he'd get pinned down by his cousins and have no choice, but he'd never actually put it on _himself. _

Feeling slightly intimidated, Roxas managed a little wave, and then they were driving.

He probably should have been paying attention to where they heading, lest he found himself alone and responsible for getting himself home. But he just couldn't concentrate. Axel was only scant inches from him. There were so many possibilities for what the night could hold. Would there be dancing? Drinking games? Darts? Cards? Roxas hoped they weren't into drugs. He joked about it lightly enough with Sora, but the truth was they really weren't his scene anymore. He hoped at least that the club wouldn't get too loud until later in the night. Roxas really did want to get to know Axel better.

Already he could see what Axel had meant about Demyx and Zexion getting lost in one another. The party had barely been moving for a few minutes, but the pair in the front seat had already plummeted deep into rapid conversation. Roxas wouldn't have been able to get a word in even if he'd been trying to keep up in the first place.

He caught eyes with Axel and got a knowing stare. Their fingers were lying so close. Roxas wished he could skip this step. The first date was always the hardest, because you never know what's what. You don't know what the other person is comfortable with, and vice versa. How eccentric can the conversation get? How sarcastic? Roxas had exactly two settings in a social environment: so shy and reserved he barely said anything, or the alternative, his brain-to-mouth filter didn't exist and he said _everything. _

Roxas had reached stage two with Axel already, but that was also in an empty coffee shop. The setting was different, the dynamic between them had changed. Roxas needed to gather his bearings.

"Hey Roxas, bet you don't know why the sun sets red."

Roxas opened his mouth to tell Axel exactly why the sun set red, but Axel was already speaking ahead of him. "You see, light is made up of lots of colors, and out of all those colors, red is the one that travels the farthest."

He finished in that same smug tone he always used during the Random Fact of the Day. But Roxas knew better.

"Nope," he replied smoothly.

Axel blinked. "No?"

"No," Roxas repeated. "On the visible light spectrum, red _is _the longest wavelength. But that's not the reason the sun appears red when it goes down. The moon also appears red when it rises, see?" he said, gesturing out to the night sky, where a blazing orange half-moon sat on the horizon. "It's because the dust particles on the horizon distort the light. Like a filter. A big, dirty light filter."

Axel was grinning. And grinning and grinning like an idiot. "No kidding. Where'd you learn that?"

"Ninth grade geology?" Roxas guessed. "I don't know, I like the sky, and stars and stuff. It's nice to remember that the universe is so much bigger than you and me."

That was probably one of the most personal things Roxas had ever said to him. He'd toss in his opinions wherever he felt like it, and they'd talked about work and their cars and console preferences. But now they were branching into _existentialism. _And it was far too early in the evening for _that _kind of conversation.

"I like smoking under the stars," Axel agreed. "Relaxes me."

"You smoke?" Roxas asked. It wasn't a make or break, but on the whole he'd really prefer if Axel didn't.

But Axel shook his head. "Nah, not habitually. Socially, sometimes. And I might go through a pack over the whole of summer, cause it's like I said, smoking on clear nights relaxes me. I might smoke a little tonight cause it's a special occasion. Non-addictive personality, got it memorized?"

Roxas shrugged. "I guess."

On the other hand, Roxas _did _have an addictive personality and he knew it. Which is why he drank coffee and stayed away from cigarettes whenever possible. It was an expense he felt wasn't worth dealing with if he could help it.

They arrived at a club that Roxas had never heard of. Whatever he'd been expecting, it wasn't that. Perhaps it was that Roxas had only seen Axel in the context of _Nature's Java, _but on the whole it seemed so… ordinary. There was a chalkboard out front advertising the 12 cent wings Axel had talked about, as well as other typical diner specials. Inside the bar was dimly lit, filled with the smell of bar food and the sound of music that was slightly too loud for the dull conversations of the early evening.

To start out with, they were seated at a booth. Later, things would get crazy. The glitter would fly, people with blacklight tattoos and colorful weaves would party and dance and play beer pong. The music would turn up and the bass would drop, and Roxas wouldn't be able to hear himself think. But not now. Now was the time for margarita wings and diet coke.

Demyx and Zexion, after everyone was seated, temporarily broke free from their own discussion, and the four of them were able to chat for a while. Roxas learned that Zexion was a freelance graphic designer ("yeah, for my _band," _said Demyx. He got smacked) and that Axel was going to grad school for anthropology with a minor in art history ("which was kind of a bad decision in hindsight, but now that I'm this far I'm kinda stuck with it").

Roxas also learned that Demyx and his band opened for the Young Veins once and it was the proudest achievement of his young life; Zexion was half Brazilian and the reason Axel got his tattoos was to commemorate his swim across the English Channel. Or, at least, that was the reason Demyx gave him after he woke up from his celebratory blackout.

"So how does an Anthropologist end up on the morning shift of _Nature's Java?_" Roxas asked. He'd been dying to know, for ages and ages.

Axel ran his hand awkwardly through the hair on the base of his neck. "I don't know… it's just a job," he said. "Gotta pay college tuition somehow. We get a lot of hardcore naturalists and vegans and stuff, but the atmosphere is nice. And I've gotten incense and beads and stuff for my room and stuff now. The zen of it all rubs off after a while."

"Yeah, cause he's a hippie," Demyx commented dryly.

Roxas almost said that he'd like to see Axel's room sometime, but he stopped himself. Too soon, he thought.

"But enough of me" said Axel, waving Demyx away. "What do _you _do? Six fifteen in the morning, Monday through Friday? With a pressed button up shirt and a tie? Do jobs like that actually _exist?_"

Roxas stared mournfully at the wood grain of the table. "I'm boring," he admitted. "Helpdesk support, IT. It's… sort of like a step up from consumer tech support. I've never swum the English Channel or played in a band or done anything neat like that."

Axel's hand snuck over to where Roxas' lie. He intertwined their pinkies. "I don't think you're boring."

"Oh god, here they go," said Demyx.

"Is that what we look like?" Zexion mused with mild interest. He perked up, hit by a sudden thought. "Oh! Babe, when did you want to set up those promotional shots with Marluxia? Only cause I had a client call this morning asking about next Wednesday…"

And then they were gone again, leaving Axel and Roxas to themselves again. Roxas was doing his best not to get flustered or show any outward signs of nerve. In truth, his heart was going fast and he was nearly certain that Axel could feel his pulse. This was happening.

Axel never stepped over the line, not once. Not after night hours began, not after they'd had a few shots, not even after they became tightly packed together on the dance floor. Awkward and shy and blushing, they danced more like sims, tripping over their own feet and singing along to Journey like stereotypical white clubbers did.

At ten minutes to midnight, they stepped outside for some air. There were almost as many people gathered outside as there were inside, all balloons and chatter and red plastic cups. But at least outside, the air was cool and the music was muffled enough for them to hear one another.

True to his promise, Axel did end up bumming a cigarette. Roxas found he didn't mind very much. They were both sweaty, quite tipsy, and covered in other peoples' perfumes. What was one more smell?

During the middle of an offshoot conversation about different kinds of cat houses, the five minute warning was announced, and a thought fell upon Roxas like an anvil. The countdown. It might start at 60, or 30, or 10. People would shout, second by second, screaming louder and louder with each number. And then they'd hit the new year and people would blow horns and noisemakers and take shots and start hugging and kissing.

Axel might kiss him.

How had he not thought of that earlier? Axel had probably been considering it since the beginning, since the moment he decided to ask Roxas in the first place. It was so _easy. _

Warmth spread from the center of Roxas' chest, burning through him all the way to the tips of his fingers. He could barely focus on the conversation, but the pair of shots and long island tea he'd had could account for that.

Roxas hoped he would, _god _he hoped he would. He liked Axel a _lot… _

A loud smattering of firecrackers violently snapped him from his daze. Axel too. They both jumped about a mile, laughing along with everybody else. Roxas was starting to hear counting from inside, the sound drawing nearer and nearer as more people joined in.

Fifteen.

When did it begin snowing? Had it been this whole time? It must have been; there were footprints marking the thin powder, forming a clear trail to where they stood. Roxas was hyperaware of it now.

Thirteen…

Axel, who had just noticed the counting, joined in with a doofy smile, muttering at first. Roxas did too. A few snowflakes clung merrily to Axel's eyelashes, occasionally fluttering off in bits as he counted jovially.

"Eight."

By now everyone was counting.

"Seven."

The volume rose and rose.

"_Six!"_

"_Five!"_

"_FOUR!"_

"_THREE!"_

"_**TWO!"**_

"_**ONE!"**_

A cacophony of sounds exploded from within the club. Cheering, horns, clinking glasses, exclamations of "_Happy fucking new year!" _and banging pots and pans all filled Roxas' ears. Yet it all seemed fuzzy, distant somehow. As if he were looking through a long tunnel and Axel was at the end of it. Nothing else was really in focus.

_Please, do it,_ Roxas begged silently. _You have to know I want it._

In one slow, fluid motion, Axel stepped forward, took ahold of both of Roxas' hands, and kissed him.

Roxas was buzzing, Axel's warm touch a pleasant contrast to the cold he didn't know he was feeling. The lips pressed against his own were warm and soft, pushing and moving ever so gently. It ended too soon, _hours, _too soon in Roxas' opinion.

Axel was pink in the face and smiling shyly, like he was trying to hold it back. Feeling much braver now, Roxas slid his hands from Axel's and placed them on the sides of his neck. Eyes slipped shut as they pressed fully into a kiss that made them both feel weak, nearly dizzy with excitement.

"Happy New Year," they said together.

~o~

"He really likes you, you know," said Zexion in a matter-of-fact sort of voice as the party sped back toward _Nature's Java._

"Oh?" Roxas said with calm, benign interest, glancing at Axel's sleeping form.

It was only around quarter to one, but Axel had knocked out barely five minutes after they left the party. Roxas didn't know how he could possibly do it; _he, _for one, would be lying awake full of jitters until the sun came up. But then, he supposed, Axel had gotten up at god knows what time to open the shop, it'd make sense that he crash now, especially after drinking.

"Totally!" Demyx chimed in. "'Oh my god, my new customer is so freakin' cute!'" he said in a mock imitation of Axel.

"'He came back again today I think he might like me,'" Zexion added.

"'No, you don't even understand,'" Demyx continued, grinning, "'I would totally have his babies.'"

Zexion cut him off with a sharp glare. "Too far," he said.

But Roxas just smiled, rubbing small circles over where Axel's hand clutched his. He thought it would be uncomfortable, if only a little bit, being with Axel and his friends outside the familiar backdrop of _Nature's Java. _But it wasn't. He was all butterflies and nerves, but not uncomfortable. It was as if he'd already known how it was all going to end up. Like skipping to a page near the end of a book without having read the context to understand it. Of course, hindsight was always 20/20, so maybe this was just how Roxas _wanted _it to play out.

"Yeah? What else does he say about me?" Roxas wondered, making it a personal goal to one day be as happy and in sync with Axel as Zexion and Demyx were when they were together.

"Hmm… I don't know," said Demyx. "I mean, it's always 'guess what Roxas said today' 'Roxas is so smart' 'guys, he's so out of my league, I don't even know why I bother.' That kind of thing. Which is funny to me now that I'm meeting you, cause he had me picturing some posh pretentious guy but you seem pretty chill to me. I guess that's just what happens when you like someone."

Roxas grew very hot in the face, feeling that he probably shouldn't have asked. "Why? I'm really nothing special…" he muttered, more to himself than to Demyx.

He was just some computer nerd that was picky about his coffee and just happened to like providing his two cents on whatever random thing Axel talked about day in and day out.

"Funny, Axel said the same thing to me before we went out tonight," said Demyx, with a sort of conclusive tone.

Roxas liked Demyx, he decided. He liked straightforward people. It was one of the things that attracted him to Axel. He had a feeling that, if things with Axel worked out as well as he was hoping, Demyx would probably become a very close friend.

Sneakily as he could, Roxas retrieved Axel's phone so that he could get his number in it. Axel had been doing all the work so far; Roxas felt it only fair that _he _take the initiative for once. He left Axel with a single text message for the morning:

_Thanks for tonight, I had a lot of fun with you ;)_

~o~

_DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE ARE TWICE AS MANY KANGAROOS LIVING IN AUSTRALIA AS THERE ARE PEOPLE? _Was what Roxas woke up to on New Year's Day. Exactly like that, in all caps. Roxas buried his head back into the pillow, trying to hide his smile from himself. It was such an Axel thing to do.

_Did you know that your eyelids flutter when you sleep? _Roxas replied. His phone had received Axel's text at 8:30 that morning. He didn't know if Axel worked Saturdays or not, or holidays. Roxas sighed for him. He was glad those days were behind him.

But it took less than a minute for his phone to ding cheerfully with Axel's reply.

_The next time you wake up at ass o'clock in the morning to work 9 hours and don't pass out after three shots of tequila, two beers and the best first kiss of your life, you let me know._

To that, Roxas replied, _You know they're having an exhibition at the Met for classic Assyrian art. School me on Ancient History?_

_It's a date._


End file.
